Roach: Manny Is Training Like A 21-Year Old

While his fighter is 40-years old, Freddie Roach has seen flashes of a younger Manny Pacquiao, as the WBA “regular” welterweight champion prepares for his January 19th fight against Adrien Broner.

“I know he’s 40, but the thing is his work ethic is still the same as it’s always been,” Roach told BoxingScene.com. “You would think he’s a 21-year-old kid.”

With an 11 year gap between champion and challenger, Roach is beginning to slow down the Filipino sneator’s training, making sure he has that same level of energy on fight night.

“He’s in great shape,” Roach said of Pacquiao. “He’s moving well and doing rounds, no problem. He’s ready to go. We’ve just gotta keep everything in control. He was in much better shape than I expected when he got here. He’s in beautiful shape. He’s running very well and he’s ready for this guy.”

This is Roach’s first fight back in Pacquiao’s camp since his 2017 upset loss to Jeff Horn, with Buboy Fernandez leading the camp for Pacquiao’s July 2018 win over Lucas Matthysse.

Now, Roach has returned with Pacquiao spending the last month of his camp working out of the legendary trainer’s Wild Card Boxing Gym in Los Angeles, California.